Moberly Mo. to Great Bend, Ks.

Friday May 31, 2013

Once again we had a change in destination to start the day. We had a fairly quiet night in the campers then it started raining in the morning. We decided to go back to Columbia, get on I-70 and head west.

By the time we reached Columbia, Mo it was raining cats and a dog now and then. Between Columbia and the Missouri River the rain came down like a fire hose being sprayed on the windshield several times. It made for some tense driving. Once across the Missouri River the rain slowed a little and by the time we reached Kansas City things were looking pretty good.

Once in Kansas, we continued on I-70/Kansas Turnpike to exit 147 then west on route 56 to Council Grove and the Kaw Mission State Historic Site which has a national stamp for our passport books. The building was built as a school for the Indian children, but the tribe did not support the school much, so was short lived. It was an interesting stop and the hostess was very knowledgeable about the Kaw Nation, and other plains Indians.The dress in this picture was on display in the school building. For a costume party a woman who worked for the local newspaper had some muslin printed of the newspaper pages and created a dress that was the hit of the evening.

From Council Grove we headed south on route 177 to the Tall Grass National Preserve near Strong City, KS. We collected several stamps at the Preserve and watched as a young girl was sworn in as a Junior Ranger It was pretty cute. All but about 4 percent of the tall grass prairies in the US have been cultivated for farming. The roots of the tall grasses went down about 15 feet, stabilizing the soil and drought and fire proofed the grass plants.They had over two inches of rain the day before, so the buses were not running for a tour of the prairie.

From Tall Grass we continued south on 177 to routes 50, 150 then route 56 with a fuel stop for the rolling caves and a Taco Bell stop in McPherson, KS . We then continued west on 56 to Great Bend, KS where we spent the night. We had started looking for campgrounds out of McPherson but the only thing we saw was a picnic area which said it was patrolled by the Highway Patrol. There seems to be a lack of campground in the area and as a result we ended up in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Great Bend. It was a pleasant place and a pleasant night for most of us.